DaeSung sat on the couch in front of the computer monitors, elbow propped up on the armrest, head resting against his hand. On any other day, he would have been pleased that Jordan and Chen were making more progress, that they were establishing emotional connections. But today, all he could think of was their encounter in the grocery store.

    His heart had gone out to Jordan when she collapsed against the wall, shoulders shaking. He could see his own disappointment reflected in her crying, in her reluctance to meet Chen’s eyes. Why were humans so cruel to each other? He didn’t miss the irony of the statement. He, a researcher, was questioning ethics.

“You alright?” Another voice interrupted his thoughts. DaeSung looked up as the speaker wandered into the room. JiYong collapsed on the other end of the couch with a sigh. It seemed like his thoughts were heavy as well.

“Not really.” DaeSung mused, shaking his head. “I’m just thinking about that at the grocery store.” Clearly, both of them were upset; JiYong didn’t even comment on his swear words. “I’m just thinking that maybe we need humans to love and accept each other first before we try to integrate Variants into our society.” JiYong nodded sadly when DaeSung finished.

“That man attacked Chen thinking he was human; attacked him when he had no way of defending himself.” JiYong mused. He glanced up at DaeSung. “Why is it always us?” He snorted, shifting his gaze to the ceiling. “Why is it that humans are always the ty ones? We attack and drag each other down with no thought of the consequences. And the Variant. The ing werewolf that we caught and separated from his pack somehow shows more so-called humanity than any of us. Yeah, they kill. But Chen only killed the people that he thought were deserving of death: murderers, those who didn’t have morals left. But what does that make us, right? We were the ones sending people into the experiment. We didn’t even care...” JiYong trailed off.

“If I didn’t know any better, Team Leader.” DaeSung droned humorlessly. “I’d say this experiment is losing its charms.” He noticed JiYong look at him in the corner of his eye. “What happened to the stone-cold researcher from before?”

“The last couple of days have been an interesting time of reflection, to say the least.” JiYong responded, exhausted. “Something about those two, man.”

“So then what’s the plan?” DaeSung stretched his arms out behind him. “Ditch this entire mess?” JiYong snorted in disdain.

“You’re hilarious. As if that was possible.” JiYong deadpanned. “And it’s not that I want to stop the experiment. We’ve already gathered groundbreaking information.” He shifted his gaze over to the monitors. “I just think that maybe we should do some good by them for a bit. Since we’re the source of everything bad, right?”

“I mean, not necessarily.” DaeSung shrugged. “If we hadn’t intervened, Jordan might still be in a prison cell. Who knows, she might have gone insane.”

“Yes, and that’s exactly where she’ll be thrown again when this trial is over.” JiYong muttered mournfully. “What’s worse: being in prison for eternity, or going back after a brief taste of freedom?” He searched DaeSung’s gaze. DaeSung contemplated the options, but could only sigh and tilt back his head.

“So then what do you suggest?” DaeSung closed his eyes. “The way you put it, their situations seems pretty hopeless.”

“Like I said, I think we should try to do them some good.” DaeSung looked over at his team leader. “See if we can delay this entire process.”

“I’m all for that; everyone would be.” DaeSung tilted his chin in towards the bedrooms. “But we send in weekly reports, we can’t hide the progress forever. Someone might get suspicious.”

“Socialization is subjective.” JiYong replied with a grimace. “As we’ve seen, there are even some humans that aren’t fit for society. I’m sure we can figure something out to keep Chen around for a bit longer.” JiYong snorted. “And besides, you can’t make any inferences based on one trial. YG is going to have to wait for the other wolves to make progress first, and who knows how long that’s going to take.”

Jordan woke up drenched in sweat. She groaned at the uncomfortable feeling of sweat-soaked fabric clinging to her skin, at the irritating scratch of the comforter. Feebly, she kicked at the sheets, trying to get them off of her body without waking the person she was currently curled up against.

After successfully freeing her legs, she sighed in relief at the sting of the cold and returned her head to its former location. It suddenly dawned on her that moving away from Chen, the source of the unbearable heat, had never crossed her mind. Jordan, still drowsy, glanced up at Chen’s gently snoozing face.

The mild light framed his features, creating a veritable halo around his face. It seemed fitting, Jordan mused; he’d become her angel in the past couple months, her rock, sturdy and stolid. In the back of her mind, she recalled the snarling beast she had first been confronted with at the beginning of the experiment, but she couldn’t seem to connect that with the peacefully sleeping figure in front of her. What he was then was a victim of circumstance, driven by survival and desperation. She recalled yesterday, when she poked her fingers into the corners of his lips, lips that hid sharp teeth that could tear -and had torn- through her skin, and tugged them into an unwilling smile.

He was still deeply asleep. Chen’s nose twitched and eyes darted beneath his eyelids. Sometimes, the arm that he draped over Jordan’s waist tensed and flexed with the ebb and flow of his dreams. She didn’t even need blankets, Jordan mused to herself, when Chen held her like this. Maybe she should just sleep on top of the comforter; she kicked it off every morning anyways.

Somehow, the pillowy weight of the blankets did not offer the same comfort as the gentle thud of Chen’s heartbeat, as the strong rise and fall of his chest with every breath that he took, as the warmth of his body when it lay next to hers. Even now, as Jordan’s head rested on his bicep, she found the soft silkiness of his skin soothing.

He was there. He was real.

The lighting in the room flared a bit; the sun peeked through a few unobtrusive clouds, shining in through the window. She could see his features more clearly, the deep tan of his skin, the fine hairs dusted across his skin.

Had he always looked like this?

Jordan vaguely remembered blushing at the sight of him, that one time back in the experimentation room, when she had first stepped into the lab. She didn’t even remember why she had.

She examined his face with fresh eyes, noting features see hadn't paid attention to before: the plumpness of his lower lip, the the horizontal edge of his eyebrow, his razor-sharp cheekbones that cast shadows on his face, the strong bridge of his nose, the long eyelashes that unconsciously fluttered against his cheeks, the list never ended.

An unfamiliar feeling built up in Jordan’s chest. It was heavy yet light, molding snugly against the insides of her ribcage with hope fluttering uncertainly at the edges. It drove Jordan to reach out her hand and map out Chen’s features by touch. With trembling fingers, Jordan traced out the angular line of his jawbone.

Jordan froze, quickly retracting her hand; her touch had woken Chen for a moment. But he remained unperturbed; the curve of his lips moved upwards in a gentle smile. He sighed in contentment, nuzzling closer, and rested his nose against hers. Jordan felt the puff of his breath against her skin, saw the warm brown of his eyes and the light that dwelled there.

Jordan felt the warmth of Chen’s hands brush against her neck and his calloused fingertips trace against her jaw. She heard it again, the purring rumble that meant he was happy. She relaxed against him, instantly calmed by the sound, like she usually was. Jordan could feel the corners of raising again even as sleepiness began to blur her vision again.

Chen pulled her even closer, until her nose was pressed flush against the skin of his neck.

She lost herself in the methodical of Chen’s hands against her skin and the tender vibrations that reverberated through her ribcage.

Jordan shifted, tucking herself beneath Chen’s chin. She felt his pulse against her lips and counted their steady beats until sleep captured her again.

The next time Jordan woke, it wasn’t to heat, or to nightmares, it was to the smell of something burning. Which, noting that Chen was not on the mattress next to her, was comparably terrifying. Bolting out of bed, Jordan sprinted down the steps, nearly twisting her ankle in the process, and barrelled into the kitchen.

Chen greeted her with a sheepish smile, turning towards her and shifting to hide something behind his back. Jordan walked over to the right of him, only to see his face blocking her way. She shifted left and right, but Chen successfully blocked her every attempt to get past him.

The burning smell was getting really strong now, which was concerning both of the people in the room. Chen tried turning Jordan around and pushing her out of the room. But Jordan dug her heels in, turning quickly and taking the opportunity to duck around him.

Well. Jordan tried to bite down the surge of exasperation rising up her neck. The open egg carton sat with it’s contents mostly missing on the counter next to the refrigerator. The granite countertops were littered with broken eggs and eggshells. Jordan sighed; they were going to be a pain to clean. She looked wearily over at the frying pan, which was the source of the burning. Jordan hurried to turn off the heat, waving away the smoke, and moved the pan off of the stove. It was a miracle that the smoke detectors hadn’t gone off yet.

An attempt at scrambled eggs was splattered all over the frying pan, burned black, sprinkled with a delicate layer of eggshells. Jordan unsuccessfully tried to suppress the wry smile that spread across her face. Chen had tried; gold star for him. She couldn’t ignore the genuine effort that was hidden behind the charred remains.

She turned to look at Chen, who was standing in the same place, avoiding her gaze and picking at his fingernails. Jordan rolled her eyes, placing the pan in the sink and turning on the water; she’d salvage it later after letting it soak. She reached over and rested her palm against the side of his neck; she wasn’t angry. After moving past him to get another pan from the cupboard, Jordan tugged Chen by the wrist to stand next to her by the stove.

“Bowl.” Jordan requested, and Chen quickly disappeared to grab her request with a clatter of ceramic. He returned, large blue bowl in hand. Jordan took out an egg from the carton and tapped on Chen’s arm to get his attention.

With Chen’s eyes trailing her every move, Jordan tapped the egg on the side of bowl until one thick crack permeated its surface. Jordan then showed Chen how to gently pry the shell apart and dump the egg into the bowl. She grabbed another egg and handed it to Chen, gesturing to the bowl.

Jordan had to give Chen credit; he was very enthusiastic. But fishing eggshells out of the bowl was not her favorite thing to do. She also wasn’t a huge fan of wiping gloopy pools of egg off of the counter, but she didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Chen sheepishly stood aside again, hands covered in the rest of the egg and the remains of the shell. Motioning for Chen to go wash his hands, Jordan meticulously picked all of the shell out of the bowl and hastily wiped off the counter with a paper towel before she grabbed another egg and handed it to him. Chen slowly approached the bowl again before very slowly raising his hand and carefully bumping the egg against the rim of the bowl. His expression brightened at the sound of the delicate crack, tapping the egg impatiently on the side of the bowl a couple more times. Jordan brushed her hands against his hand, miming pulling apart the shell with her hands.

Chen’s eyes widened in realization before, with deep concentration, pulling the two halves of the eggshell apart. The egg fell into the bowl with a plop. Chen pointed at it, eggshells still in hand, victorious grin across his face.

Jordan couldn’t help but smile in response.

She pointed at the rest of the carton, and watched as Chen got to work. He immediately hunched over the bowl, wide eyes level with its edge as he cracked the eggs as if they were the most delicate things in the world. Just eggs wasn’t going to be enough though, so she rooted through the fridge.

She froze. Now that she thought about it, the last time she checked the refrigerator, they only had brussel sprouts and two eggs left. Where had Chen gotten an entire carton of eggs? There was no way he’d gone to the store on his own. Yes, he could have run there and back in a reasonable amount of time, but since he was currently only clad in boxers, she would have expected a call from the police about a guy with a charge of indecent exposure and probably shoplifting. She hadn’t yet taught Chen the concept of money. That, and she was sure that the researchers would have prevented anything like that from happening. One stray thought crossed her mind, but it was valid enough for Jordan to slam the fridge door shut, shoot upstairs to grab her phone, and frantically send off a text.

To: Sylvia Jung

Did Chen go over to your house and steal some eggs? I’m really sorry if that’s the case! I’ll buy you a new carton.

Waiting for the reply was awful. Jordan didn’t know the contents of the potential reply. Would Sylvia be angry? How had Chen gotten into her house? Did he break anything? Was that the end of their very short, but incredibly comforting relationship? Jordan prayed for a quick reply. She knew that Sylvia was up early in the mornings, but also knew that the old woman was self-admittedly a terrible texter. But her anxiety did not last for long; after a minute or two, the cellphone buzzed in her hands.

To: Jordan

Not stealing, I gave them to him. He was very polite. Repayment for shoveling.

Jordan rolled her eyes before furiously replying.

To: Sylvia Jung

You’ve made us so many dinners, you paid us both back a long time ago!

To: Jordan

Just shovel my driveway again next snowstorm. :)

Jordan couldn’t help but chuckle at the emoji, and sighed in defeat. Obviously her elderly neighbor did not care in the slightest that Chen had popped over to her house out of the blue to wordlessly ask for a carton of eggs. There were really only two ways Jordan could imagine Chen asking. He knew how to say “egg,” so he might have just repeated it over and over until Sylvia got the message. But the more likely option was that Chen had probably charged straight to the fridge and pointed to the carton the moment Sylvia had opened the door. Jordan couldn’t imagine a so-called “polite” way to do either of those actions, especially since Chen was clad only with boxers, but he somehow seemed to have managed it. Cringing, she could only hope that Sylvia hadn’t minded Chen’s half-ness.

    Eyes fixed on their texting conversation, Jordan made her way back downstairs to find Chen anxiously waiting by the counter.

    “Chen, if you need stuff, tell me. Don’t go asking Sylvia for everything.” Jordan grumbled. She sighed, frustrated, because Chen wouldn’t understand what she was saying. She’d go grocery shopping in the afternoon; that was currently the only solution.

    With a resigned sigh, Jordan slid her phone onto the counter and resumed making breakfast. Opening a drawer, she grabbed a pair of chopsticks and gestured for Chen to follow her.

    Since he’d somehow gotten the hang of turning on the stove, she skipped showing him that step, instead pulling his attention to the dial settings. After all, burnt half-cooked eggs weren’t exactly appealing. Turning the dial to medium high heat, she set the pan on the stove and added oil to the pan, showing Chen how to swirl the oil around so it coated the bottom. While waiting for the oil to heat up, she showed him how to beat the eggs until the egg whites and yolks were thoroughly mixed. She demonstrated where the salt was, and dumped out the appropriate amount of salt and held it to his eyes. She beat those into the eggs too, before holding her hand over the oil to test out the temperature. She held Chen’s hand over the oil, then gave him a thumbs up to indicate that that was the temperature that felt right.

    Making her mom’s scrambled eggs was easy, and it didn’t take long for Chen to figure it out. Jordan poured out the eggs in batches so Chen could practice. By the end, they had a massive bowl of decently fluffy scrambled eggs. There were stray burnt batches here and there, but Jordan was, in general, quite impressed with the results.

    Jordan held up her right hand, grasped one of his hands with her left, and smacked them together.

    “High five!” She exclaimed with a grin. She patted their hands together again. “High five!”

    “H-h-igh fiff-vvve.” Chen sounded out. He seemed to struggle with the v’s, but he managed to get the sound out in the end. He smacked his palm against hers again in affirmation. Jordan beamed.

    They ate the eggs right there on the counter in comfortable silence. Neither seemed to want to interrupt the cheerful atmosphere they’d established. When they were done, Chen piled everything into the sink like Jordan had taught him to.

Afterwards, Jordan and Chen settled into the couches like they did most afternoons. But today was different; today, Chen tugged Jordan extra-close, so she could rest her head against his shoulder. Jordan welcomed it - today was chillier than usual - snuggling into his warmth. She rested her hands against the warm skin of his stomach, chortling when Chen flinched at the coldness. Chen rested his cheekbone against her hair, rubbing slightly, the rumbling in his chest starting again.

Jordan glanced up at him, forcing Chen to pull his head away for a second. They gazed at each other for a moment, Chen with unbridled affection, and Jordan with sudden hesitation. Her eyes flickered down to his lips for a moment, a sudden urge flooding her features.

Should she try it?

It was terrifying; if she did what she was thinking of doing, it would be a very physical confirmation of the feelings that she realized she’d been suppressing for who-knows-how-long.

But the look that Chen was giving her, eyebrows quirked in inquisitive confusion, only caused that feeling in her chest to roar again.

She took the plunge, moving herself upwards to press her lips against his before quickly pulling away. For a brief moment, she could enjoy the soft plushness of his lips. But afterwards, as she scanned his face for a reaction, she could feel only fear.

Chen didn’t seem to be in that same dilemma. He didn’t seem affronted, scared, offended, or anything close. Quite the contrary, he looked confused, curious, even. He tilted his head and gazed at Jordan, eyes flicking between her eyes and her lips.

It was then that Jordan realized that kissing seemed to be an exclusively human behavior. But before she could gather her bearings and pull further away, she felt Chen against her lips again.

It wasn't magical, like how books described it. There were no fireworks, unexpected bursts of unconfessed feelings. There was no sudden clarity or the ringing of church bells. There were no moans, searching tongues, or wandering fingers. But Jordan couldn’t help but close her eyes and sink into this kiss anyways. Chen’s kiss.

Soft, slightly damp with saliva, and seeped in curiosity.

He pulled back, eyes intently examining her.

“Kiss.” Jordan whispered. She brought one hand up, hesitantly brushing her fingertips against his chin.

Jordan couldn’t help it, but her lips curled up, beaming, even as Chen pressed his lips against hers again.

***

A massive thank you to Shooka24 for beta'ing, as usual. You're the true MVP. <3

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Have a wonderful day/night, whenever you're reading this, and as always, see you next chapter!